electronic logs

Owner-operators with trucks equipped with model year 1999 engines and older will not be not subject to the electronic logging device mandate, regardless of the model year of the truck, according to fresh guidance from FMCSA.

Universal Logistics, one of the country's largest carriers and operator of Universal Truckload, Universal Dedicated and Universal Intermodal, will provide electronic logging devices to its 3,500 owner-operators free of charge, the company announced Tuesday.

A new agreement between trucker-focused mobile app company One20 and third-party logistics provider C.H. Robinson will allow carriers with fewer than 10 trucks contracted to C.H. Robinson to receive One20’s F-ELD device at a discounted price.

Podcast: A talk with Greg Huggins, currently leased with a 2015 Cascadia straight truck to Landstar Express America, about his transition three years ago from two decades and more of household-moves hauling. And: A prediction on scale house inspectors after the ELD mandate.

Many ELD systems based on smartphone or tablet apps fall in the category of “bring your own device.” Because most rely on cellular and Bluetooth connections, BYOD systems can be more prone to connectivity problems.

"Since we have the golden unicorn of a Representative in Texas who has really been inside a truck, used one to make a living, and knows what the HOS is, we should definitely make an effort to let him know how very much we appreciate him." Support his bill by calling your own rep, Wendy urges.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s updated out-of-service criteria include those related to electronic logging devices. None are new OOS conditions. Rather, they’re footnotes related to current OOS conditions having to do with the hours of service, namely having no log book, having no previous seven days of logs and presenting a false log. All require putting the driver OOS for 10 consecutive hours.

Running with an e-logs device is one thing. Communicating e-log data to an inspector is quite another. With five months to go, states’ data transfer plans vary widely, and an ambitious federal program remains untested.